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PORTRAIT OF CLARE - British Railway Movie Database

PORTRAIT OF CLARE

GB
1950
1hr 40mins
Dir: Lance Comfort
Starring: Margaret Johnston and Richard Todd

A woman looks back on her three marriages in flashback format

This drama was based on the 1927 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young but whereas that was a commerical success, the film was disappointingly poor. It is, however, notable for its particularly fine shots of Aston Rowant station on the Watlington branch with a local train hauled by an ex-GWR 5700-series 0-6-0PT. There is a later studio-bound sequence portraying a railway journey to London that involves a shot of an ex-LMS Class 2P 4-4-0 arriving into Elstree & Borehamwood station followed by a shot of a Thompson L1 Class 2-6-4T arriving into London Marylebone. There is then one final sequence that shows a train arriving into a station as viewed from above, possibly from a footbridge. This is a genuine scene, but only the top three quarters of the locomotive are visible and other than it being a tank loco of some description nothing else can be identified.

A branch train arrives into Aston Rowant in the hands of an ex-GWR Pannier Tank. Note the fire bucket hanging on the end of the bunker, probably filled with sand to aid adhesion.
Looking the other way now and passengers are on the platform with the goods shed beyond
An ex-LMS 2P Compound 4-4-0 draws into Elstree & Borehamwood station on the southern end of the Midland
A Thompson L1 2-6-4T brings its local train into its destination – London Marylebone
A branch passenger train arrives into a snowbound station late one evening. Margaret Johnston is standing in the doorway, flanked on either side by an advertisement for Bovril.